NC House gives tentative approval to tax bill

The state House on Tuesday gave the initial okay to a bill reforming some tax laws

RALEIGH, NC (AP) -

The North Carolina House has tentatively agreed to a wide-ranging tax bill that caps municipal business privilege taxes and places an excise tax on electronic cigarettes.

The chamber voted 83-35 for the measure Tuesday after a majority turned back an effort to remove the e-cigarette tax from the bill. A final House vote is expected Wednesday before the bill heads to the Senate.

The bill limits local privilege taxes to $100 per year and puts a 5-cent tax on certain-sized cartridges of nicotine inserted into an e-cigarette holder.

Rep. Becky Carney of Charlotte says the House was acting hastily on the e-cigarette tax while federal officials are working on how to regulate them. But bill sponsor Rep. Julia Howard of Mocksville suggested it was better than collecting no excise tax.

Here are some of the proposed changes in a wide-ranging tax bill given tentative approval Tuesday:

- Replaces current system of local privilege license taxes with a tax in which towns and cities can charge no more than $100 per business per year. The base for such taxes also would be broadened so more entities would be taxed. The authority of counties to collect similar privilege taxes would be repealed.

- Simplifies calculations for a deduction that corporations can take on a net economic loss.

- Clarifies how farmers can obtain certificates exempting their operations from sales taxes for agricultural purchases.

- Makes clear sales taxes on university meal plans purchased by students are assessed on the upfront cost of the plans.

- Changes 2013 law creating a combined 6.75 percent sales tax on admissions to live events, movies and other attractions. Exemptions for agricultural fairs and state attractions are repealed. Exemptions are changed to apply to events sponsored by an elementary or secondary school and by nonprofits that compensate neither workers nor performers.

- Makes clear private residences and cottages rented for fewer than 15 days listed with a real estate broker or agent is subject to sales and occupancy taxes. The section would take effect June 1, just before the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open is held in Pinehurst.

- Reduces the 4.75 percent state sales tax on manufactured and modular homes that took effect in January by subjecting only half of sales price to the tax.

- Requires an Alcoholic Beverage Control permit applicants to have filed all state tax returns and payments to receive and retain a license.

- Increases the fee that private license plate agents receive from the state for collecting property tax under a new program requiring that the tax and vehicle license tag fees be collected together.

- Creates an excise tax of 5 cents per milliliter of the liquid used in e-cigarette cartridges and prohibits the use of e-cigarettes in state correctional facilities.

- Allows again the University of North Carolina and East Carolina University health system to collect long outstanding patient debts by tapping into state tax refunds and lottery winnings. Those options were repealed in 2013.

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Source: House Bill 1050, summary of portions of bill created by House Finance Committee counsel.

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